Domaine de Bargylus is a wine estate on the slopes of the Coastal Mountain Range in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. These mountains, known as Mount Bargylus in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, produced notable wines up until the rise of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. Domaine de Bargylus is managed by two brothers Karim and Sandro Saadé, with the assistance of renowned consultant

Stéphane Derenoncourt Stéphane Derenoncourt is a French ''vigneron'' working as a consultant for numerous estates in Bordeaux and other wine producers worldwide. With his wife, Christine Derenoncourt, he runs Vignerons Consultants and owns Domaine de l'A in the Côt ...

. It has been cited by wine critic

Jancis Robinson Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the ''Financial Times'', and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She ...

as "arguably the finest wine of the Eastern Mediterranean".

History

The

Saadé family The Saadé family is Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, Antiochian Greek Orthodox Christian and originates from the Syrian coastal city of Latakia. It owns two vineyards, Château Marsyas in Lebanon and Chateau Bargylus, Domaine de Bargylus in Syria ...

began works on the winery in 2003. The first vintage was produced in 2006. The Saadé family, of

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

Christian origins, is originally from the coastal city of

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

, known in ancient times as

Laodicea ad Mare Laodicea ( grc, Λαοδίκεια) was a port city and an important colonia of the Roman Empire in ancient Syria, located near the modern city of Latakia. It was also called Laodicea in Syria or Laodicea ad mare. For a short period of time un ...

(i.e. "Laodicea-by-the-sea"). The Saadé family traces its mercantile roots to the 18th and 19th century with prominent representatives such as Gabriel Saadé (1854-1939) and

Rodolphe Saadé Rodolphe Saadé (born 3 March 1970) is a Franco-Lebanese businessman. He is the chairman of the CMA CGM Group, a world leader in logistics transport, and the son of its founder, Jacques Saadé. As of April 2022, his net worth was estimated at ...

(1900-1956). With an initial involvement in commodities’ trading and various industries, the family developed maritime and land transport activities on the initiative of

Johnny Saadé Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varian ...

, Rodolphe’s son, in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Johnny Saadé shifted his activities to the wine making, tourism and real estate fields. The family owns another winery in Lebanon's Beqaa valley,

Château Marsyas Château Marsyas is a vineyard located in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. The name of the property stems from the ancient Greek name of the Bekaa valley known as the Marsyas valley in Hellenistic times. The estate's surface area is around 600,000 s ...

. Other members of this Latakian family are Syrian intellectual and historian Gabriel W.Saadé (1922-1997) and his niece Leila Badre, a prominent Lebanese-Syrian archaeologist.

Grape varieties

Bargylus uses

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

Syrah Syrah (), also known as Shiraz, is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. In 1999, Syrah was found to be the offspring of two obscure grapes from southeastern France, Dureza and Mondeuse B ...

and

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...

grapes for its red wines, and

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

and

Sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...

grapes for its white wines.

Soil

Limestone is a dominant geological component of the area where the vineyard is situated.

References

External links

Bargylus Wines Syria
winery official website
Lebanon – Sunning grapes
'The first wine from the Johnny R. Saadé family was the Syrian Bargylus, whose grapes are grown on 20 hectares of land at Jebel al-Ansariyeh on the outskirts of the port city of Lattakia and which produced its first harvest in 2006.''
'Very old world' wine makes a comeback in Lebanon and Syria
''CNN: Inside the Middle East'' 18 December 2009

''The New York Times'' 16 March 2012
First Syrian wine to hit UK
''Decanter.com'' 12 March 2012

''ft.com'' 21 April 2012
Syrian Vintner Carries On in a Time of War
''PRI's The World'' 7 June 2013
Top 100 Making An Impact In The Arab World
' Forbes Middle-east''

'The Telegraph''
Making wine in a war zone: Syria's 'dream' vineyard
'BBC news''
How one family is keeping winemaking alive in Syria
'South China Morning Post ''
Anson on Thursday: The five bottle cure – inspiring wine stories of 2015
''Decanter ''
Determined syrian winery launches in HK
''The Drinks Business''
Vinexpo Bordeaux : Produire son vin en Syrie, une bataille au quotidien
'La Revue du Vin de France''
The most dangerous wine in the world: Incredible story of how grapes from war-torn Syria are smuggled out
''Mirror''
Wines of War
''Wine Spectator''
Fractious vintage: ‘The most dangerous wine the world’
''The Irish Times''
News from the Middle East
''Financial Times''
This New Book Will Take You Around The World In Eighty Wines
''Forbes magazine''
Syrie: le vin le plus dangereux du monde
''Arte TV'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Chateau Bargylus Wineries of Syria Syrian brands